TUESDAY UPDATES: Boone County passes 50,000 residents receiving first dose of coronavirus vaccine
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 25 new COVID-19 cases. There are currently 74 active cases in the county.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 17,806.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 17,648, an increase of 32 from Monday.
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 11.
The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 11.9% for March 12 through last Thursday.
The county continues to trend down as there have been 54 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.
The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 26.
The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be six.
The dashboard is reporting five COVID-19 patients in the ICU and one patient on a ventilator.
The hospital status remains in 'Green' status. 'Green' status is when hospitals are operating within licensed bed capacity; accepting patient transfers from referring hospitals within standard care operating procedures.
The State of Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 50,128 residents have received their first dose in Boone County.
The county has the largest percentage of people in Mid-Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 27.8%.
Cole County now have the second largest with 23.9% of the population have received the first dose of the vaccine. Howard County is the third with a 23.6% of the population have received the first dose of the vaccine.
Jefferson City hospital to host vaccine clinic, 500 doses available
Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City said it's holding a coronavirus vaccine clinic Wednesday.
The release said 500 vaccine doses are available for anyone currently vaccine-eligible -- up to Phase 1B, Tier 3, which became eligible last week.
Hospital officials said appointments can be made by calling 573-632-5152 and pressing 1.
Tier 3 includes teachers, school staff members, government workers, communication infrastructure workers and many others.
The release did not provide a timeline for when the vaccine appointments start. A hospital spokeswoman said Pfizer's two-dose vaccine will be given out at the event.
As of Tuesday, Missouri was in Phase 1B, Tier 3 of the vaccination plan. Gov. Mike Parson announced plans to begin phases 2 and 3 last week. Parson said residents in Phase 2 will become vaccine-eligible on Monday and that Phase 3 will follow on April 9. The last phase includes all state residents.
Audrain County to host April 6 coronavirus vaccine clinic
The Audrain County Health Department is letting people know how they can pre-register for an April 6 coronavirus vaccination event at the Mexico Area Family YMCA.
The department is using the state's vaccine navigator website for sign-ups. Department administrator and CEO Craig Brace said in a news release that the department is using pre-registration because it will help the event run more smoothly.
The link to register for the Audrain County clinic might not be initially available. If the event is not yet listed, those who register should select the "none of these appointments work for me" option, which will put them in a queue to receive updates about local clinics.
The health department said it will notify the public when the event is listed.
Department staff is available to help register people who don't have internet or computer access.
The clinic will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 6.
Boone County health department opens coronavirus vaccine appointments
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services said Tuesday morning that it will open up 150 coronavirus vaccine appointments in the afternoon.
The appointments will open at 5 p.m. for people who live or work in Boone County and are currently eligible for the vaccine. The state last week opened up eligibility to millions more Missourians by activating the next tier in its vaccination plan. The latest tier includes teachers, government employees, communications workers and grocery workers.
The appointments will take place Thursday through Saturday this week.
Boone County enjoys one of the highest vaccination rates in Missouri, with its 27.8% of the population receiving a first dose coming in at third in the state behind only Atchison County and Joplin.
The increasing vaccination rate combined with lower numbers of new coronavirus cases led the county health director to announce a new health order Monday that removes many business capacity limits. The order takes effect at noon Wednesday.
Missouri COVID-19 positivity rate near lowest level during pandemic
Missouri's seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate was near the lowest level reported in the state since the pandemic started.
Tuesday's update posted to the state coronavirus dashboard said the rate was at 4% -- the lowest the rate has been in months.
The state has seen the positivity rate decrease since early January as positive test results and testing have dropped off.
Recently, the rate had plateaued at 4.5%, the health department has since revised the reports lower. Missouri's positivity has not been reported above 4.3% during March.
The dashboard said 11% of the state's 4.7 million PCR tests have come back positive over the last year of the pandemic.
The lowest positivity rate reported during the pandemic was 2.9% on May 29, the dashboard said. COVID-19 positivity had fallen below 4% for a little more than a week from May 26 - June 4.
Three counties in the southeast corner of the state have the highest positivity rates since the pandemic started. The dashboard said Pemiscot County's rate was the highest at 23% with neighboring New Madrid County reported at 20%. Oregon County had the third-highest rate at 19%.
The dashboard reported 355 new COVID-19 cases through PCR testing bringing the pandemic total up to 486,525. Department officials reported probable COVID-19 cases reported through antigen testing were up to 84,935 over the last year.
Total virus-related deaths went up 55 from the day before. The health department reported 53 of the fatalities in a weekly check of death certificates. The dashboard said 8,429 Missourians have died from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
According to the health department, more than 2 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state with more than 1.3 million state residents having initiated vaccination. The dashboard said 750,000 have completed vaccination.
State health department reports double-digit increase in deaths
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced a double-digit increase of virus-related deaths early Tuesday morning.
The release sent out just after midnight said health officials reported 53 more deaths in the weekly check of death certificates.
Department officials say the deaths occurred over several months:
- November 2020 - 3
- January 2021 - 11
- February 2021 - 24
- March 2021 - 15
As of Monday, the department had reported 8,374 virus-related deaths since the pandemic started.
Weekly death certificate updates have been reported as high as 339 but have decreased in the last two weeks. Forty-one pandemic deaths were reported last week.
The health department said it does not report probable coronavirus deaths. Some information is reported by local health departments but is not added to the dashboard until department officials confirm the death through death certificate analysis.
